Summer Camp food

When you work in a camp kitchen, you're bound to find a food that you just can't stomach, that you won't eat for months after working at summer camp, or you might just discover a whole new combination that you love.

At Wisconsin Badger camp, I realized that I really do enjoy milk in moderation.  I also discovered that I'm not a fan of oatmeal.

At Spring Hill, I came to see scrambled eggs in a whole new way, and knew which meals meant that I would be having a rather large salad instead of the hot offering.

During my first week here I ventured into inventing my own stir fry for dinner one night.  The kids like the homemade chicken noodle soup better.

Camp food--Chicken Cornbread Pie

I am now expanding what I'll be blogging about here to include the food that we eat, and this will be the first "official" installment.

We did Chicken Cornbread Pie recently for dinner along with leftover mac and cheese, and leftover shepherds pie.  Here are the photos of the cornbread pie.

Thoughts from a laundromat

Written on 1/24/15

Today I took a boarders  cloths to the laundromat so that I could wash them.  My co-workers were back at camp, cleaning the girls dorms as i sat there, waiting for the laundry to be washed and dried.  In a way I was glad to be away--to be around civilization--for a time.  Yet I wondered if there was more to life than cleaning dorms, cleaning laundry, cooking meals, and doing activities with kids.  That's when I remembered that I would much rather be doing this than flipping burgers at a fast food place.

As I sat there, waiting at the laundromat, I knew that the variety of things I do on a daily basis combined with the routine is part of why I like what I do.  I don't just paint, just wash cloths, just cook, just do activities with kids.  I get to do it all.  And I know exactly what's coming net.

Last night one of the girls decided that she wanted to do cooking while one of the boys wanted to do improv games.  We had planned on doing both so that the kids could choose which one they wanted to do.  As it turned out, the time I spent doing cooking was a great chance to talk with the kids, and to create something that they will hopefully remember when they get older.

Camp food

Pork Chops--not the kids favorite, but they did get eaten.

Homemade chicken noodle soup--this is one of the favorites thus far. I keep getting asked when I'm making more chicken noodle soup.  I even used the gluten free noodles!

Hamburgers and cheeseburgers--not only tasty, but also gluten free!

Shepard's pie--obviously it was eaten.  Onions, ground beef, potatoes, and tomatoes.  Next time I think I'll attempt making meatloaf to see how kids like that.  After all, they didn't mind this meal too much.

On cold winter days, as I walk from one place to the next, looking up at views like this remind me of how much I appreciate the spring, summer, and fall, and the colors that those seasons bring.

There are mornings when I wake up and look out my window to see this.  The picture doesn't do the view of that sunrise justice.

On other days, when it is sunny and I can see the blue sky, a view like this is also quite the sight.  Seeing that blue sky is a reminder of the perfect days of spring and summer.

I ventured out earlier in the week to play the piano, make a snack, and help with a tour for a new perspective boarder.  We had just had a dusting of snow the night before, so the snow looked fresh, even if it did crunch under ones feet a bit.

I don't venture off of camp very often.  But when I do it is usually with other staff and/or campers.  We'll be getting another staff member in under a month, so at that point we'll get a lot more done in less time, and will have an easier time scheduling time off for everyone.  At that point I'll likely venture off camp during my time off to go to the local library which is about three block away.

I've already found the local family dollar, the Walmart, the Target, the library, the fairgrounds, and the Salvation Army.  I'm sure that the longer that I'm here, the better chance there is that I will find myself knowing where to go to find things that I might need.  The nice thing is that I don't have to worry about grocery shopping, so when I do venture out to find something it'll be necessities or to spend some time hanging out with co-workers.

This past week the weather has been really nice.  It's been in the twenties most of the time, and last weekend we even got up into the upper thirties.

More to come later!

What Camp Counselors Make

If you've ever thought that the camp counselors had it made, think again.

Camp counselors make sure they know as much as they possibly can about the kids that they care for.  They don't want these kids to be homesick, worry, feel un-wanted or worthless.  They want to know what the kids they work like and don't like.  They remember these things so that the can make a group of kids time at camp the best days of their young lives.

Whenever I had a camper who was homesick, worried, or just needed a positive role model in their life, I knew something about them that I could use to help them grow  and to see that things might be tough at times and that they could come out of the situation a stronger and better person.  There was one camper from my time at Spring Hill who I was able to create a connection with.  It was thanks to that connection that we made early in their two weeks at camp that allowed to this camper know that they could pull me aside at anytime to talk.  There were several times when we had one on one, and that they like having me there to listen and give advice was helpful.

Camp counselors make sure that the parents of the kids they care for know that their kids will be just fine. Never doubt the ability of your child's camp counselor.

During my time at Wisconsin Badger Camp, I had to pay a lot of attention to what caregivers were telling me about my campers because these were campers with disabilities.  I knew that the more information I got from the caregivers about my campers, the easier it would be when I found the campers needed someone who had an understanding of their situation.

Camp Counselors are always learning new things, and making trying new things something that their campers want to do.

During my time at Spring Hill, I decided to start overcoming my fear of heights by going down the zip lines.  The kids I was working with those two weeks knew that I was (and still am) scared of heights.  So they were glad to see me trying new things.  Here at Camp Pillsbury, I've already learned how to use a paint roller (I had never used one in my life), how to remove acrylic paint from walls, and how to make stir fry without a recipe.  I'm certain that I'll learn even more the longer that I am here.

Camp counselors know how to solve problems with little to no supervision, and no one telling them how to do everything that they have to do on a daily basis.

At WBC, I spent much of my days making sure that my campers were dressed, clean, well fed, and having fun in their activities.  Nobody told me how to get my campers to shower.  I had to figure out how to get them in and out of the shower, to get their meds, to meals and activities, and to bed without much of any direction.

Camp counselors can and will handle just about anything you can throw at them.

At Spring Hill, we had a head lice infestation one week.  What did we, as the staff, do?  We did a lice check of all the staff and campers so that we could treat those who had lice.  During the summer of 2013, I managed to get with a stomach bug in the middle of our two week session...while I had campers.  Thankfully the staff rallied to come up with a plan so I could sleep for a couple hours.  The moment that I woke up from my nap, I knew that I wasn't 100%, but was feeling more like myself.  So, I went to dinner, and spent the rest of the night with my campers.  It didn't matter that I was sick.  What I mattered that night was making the campers feel special despite being sick.

Late afternoon photos

This is the view from my window, taken on a Sunday afternoon that I had off.  It was quite a nice day out, so coming back to my room after a walk to see this was nice.  As you can probably tell, we had some rather warm weather (mid to upper thirties) the weekend I took this photo, so a lot of snow melted.  Last night we did get a little more snow, so you can't see the grass anymore.

This is the building called old main.  If you saw the pictures I posted earlier of the piano and the stained glass window--those are both in this building.  Eventually we'll have a wood shop set up in the basement of this building.

Long weekends and introversion

This weekend was a long one for the kids since they have today off.  This meant coming up with a variety of things for the kids to do.  When we did planning, it was decided that we would take one of the boarders who would be around the whole weekend rock climbing on Sunday.  We also took that boarder to Costco, Trader Joes, and the Salvation Army store on Saturday to get all of the grocery shopping for the rest of the month done, as well as let him pick something out with his disposable income.  Today, we took the kids that were here for the"School's out Camps in" program to the cities for lunch at Wendy's and to the I-max.

With all of this going on, none of us have had much of any time off, so we've all been taking small chunks (a few hours at a time) off so that nobody is on at all times.  I managed to get this afternoon (post I-max and lunch) off until it's time for me to go make dinner.  The moment we got back from the cities, I headed straight for my room to get ready for a few minutes before heading off for a walk.  I haven't spent much time off of camp, so it felt good to get away for a half an hour.  It also felt good to go for a walk in the sun, especially since it's in the high thirties here today.

The thing about being an introvert is that sometimes not having much time alone, or with only a couple of people is that you start to become worn out.  What I've discovered since arriving at Camp Pillsbury is that I've enjoyed the more one on one time with the boarders/campers, and that I've also enjoyed the fact that I work with three people.  This has allowed me to get to know the people I work with.  At one point last week, we had a staff meeting where the three of the four of us that have worked at camps for years made the same noise at the same moment  because we all had very specific and similar memories of moments that had happened at the camps we each had worked at pop into our heads at the same moment.  One of the things that I've discovered is that, while the after school kids are around, I spend a lot of time with three of them, and most of that is one on one or with two of them.  I'm hoping that that more individual attention from me with those three after school kids gives them a chance to get to know me, see that I care about them, and know that they can come to me any time that they need to talk.

This afternoon, as we were driving back from the cities, it hit me that my battery was on low, and that I HAD to take my time off this afternoon so that I could recharge.  The good thing about taking that walk once we got back, and now just hanging out in my room, is that I now am feeling like once I reconnect with the kids and the staff at dinner, I'll have a lot more energy to do things with the kids.

We're hoping to work on scheduling who has what day off each week in the next week or so that we aren't figuring out who has what time off at the last minute.  Once that happens, it will be so much easier to plan "Erin" time.

Questions that challenge

During the course of the last couple days one of the campers asked some questions that forced me to think, and had me talking about things I normally don't talk about.  The camper asked:

1.  Do you ever want kids?

2.  Are you married?

3.  Do you ever want to get married?

4.  Aren't you afraid of being alone?

The question about kids is something that I have thought about before, but never really had to explain to a kid.  It was hard to explain to the camper that the kids I work with here at Pillsbury are like my kids.  I love them and enjoy teaching them new things and helping them to grow.  It's hard to explain how much fun I have with them, how much I care about them, and that I also like having time when I don't have to worry or think about them.

The are you married question was much easier to handle.  Of course it brought up the whole dating and wanting to get married questions.  This was one of those moments that got me thinking about, if and when I do start dating, what qualities I'm looking for.  To explain that to a kids who hasn't entered the world of dating, marriage and how hard it is to just figure out what you're doing with your life is much harder than it seems.

The final question the camper asked was one I hadn't expected.  I wouldn't have ever thought about how to answer this one if the camper hadn't asked it.  As a child, most of us were afraid of the dark, of heights, of monsters under the bed, of being left behind, of not being loved or cared for, or of something else.  I can understand why some people might be scared of never being loved or cared for, or of being alone their whole life.  My answer to that final question was surprisingly simple.  I need my alone time.  I also get to spend most of my days working with people who I enjoy being around and working with.  I get to work with a group of kids who often surprise me, who enjoy the positive attention, who challenge me to push them to be better, and who remind me to smile and how to have fun.  It is because I have these kids and these co-workers that I'm not afraid of being alone.  I might start dating in two weeks, or it could be another twenty-six years, but as long as there are people around me who will care about me, and who I can care about, that is what matters.

Photos

I do get to play this somewhat regularly.  I'll be glad to play a little more often leading up to this summer!

This is found in the building we call old main.

First week at Camp Pillsbury

I am now in my second week working and living here in Owatonna Minnesota and Camp Pillsbury.  There's so much to be done, and always will be stuff to do.

The first week was a blur of learning my way around camp, figuring out who is who, scraping walls in dorm rooms, and painting.  I also have been involved in dinner and breakfast each day.  I feel like I've been doing this for at least a month right now, but know that I haven't been doing it for that long.  Instead I now have confirmation that one day at a camp is equal to one week in the real world.

Here's the link to a photo from Camp Pillsbury's Facebook page of one of our boarders and the staff with the boarders snowmen.

https://www.facebook.com/camppillsbury/photos/pcb.346667672207351/346667315540720/?type=1

I hope to post more of whats been going on in a week or two.